Apoorva Lakhia turns producer with Hide N Seek

Apoorva Lakhia is turning producer with a supernatural thriller that will launch Ponds Femina Miss India 2006 Amruta Patki as its leading lady. Lakhia apparently chose the aspirant after auditioning almost a dozen newcomers.

"I want to prove beauty queens can act," says Lakhia, though it's not Lakhia, but his assistant Sean Arranha who will direct Amruta Patki. Says Lakhia, "I won't only produce the film but also co-write it with Suresh Nair. Hide N Seek is about four friends played by Purab Kohli, Arjan Bajwa, Ayaaz Khan (Genelia's fiance in Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na) and Samir Kochhar whose terrible past catches up with them."

Lakhia is taking his duties as a producer very seriously. "My director Sean is just a baby. We need to nurture new talent not intimidate them," says Lakhia probably referring to the way Lakhia was treated by his producer Sanjay Gupta during the making of Shootout At Lokhandwala.

Interestingly, Sean Arranha is also directing a "pure intense love story" for producer Vashu Bhagnani with Zayed Khan in the lead. Zayed and Sean became buddies during the making of Lakhia's Mission Istaanbul. But Zayed has moved on.